JCC Distinguished Speaker Series

Barry Edelstein, an American theatre director, author and educator, will discuss his upcoming directorial effort at The Old Globe, The Twenty-seventh Man. Nathan Englander’s chilling play, starring Broadway legend Hal Linden, set in a Soviet prison in 1952 where Stalin’s secret police have rounded up the giants of Yiddish literature in Russia. In a Soviet prison in 195 2, Stalin’s secret police have rounded up twenty-six writers, the giants of Yiddish literature in Russia. As judgment looms, a twenty-seventh suddenly appears: a teenager,  unpublished and unknown. Baffled by his arrest, he and his cellmates wonder at what has brought them together, and wrestle with what it means to write in troubled times. Time Out New York called The Twenty-seventh Man “exquisite – as chilling and haunted as a ghost story.” Artistic Director Barry Edelstein returns to the play he premiered in New York by award-winning novelist Nathan Englander, and reimagines it for the Globe’s intimate in-the-round space, bringing us larger-than-life personalities and an unforgettable reminder of the transcendent power of storytelling. Barry will discuss the play, the genesis of the project, and the historical events behind it.

Tony and Emmy Award winner Hal Linden